The much beloved Diana, Princess of Wales died in a highly suspicious crash in 1997, one which Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Dodi Fayed whom Diana was dating, insisted for over a decade was an arranged murder. Some twenty-four years later, after both her princely sons have grown and married the public learned that her younger son, Prince Harry inherited her famous sapphire engagment ring.
That ring that now adorns the hand of another soon-to-be Princess, Catherine “Kate Middleton”, Duchess of Cambridge and wife of Prince William. How it came to be there is a story with a spirit of vengeance for a mother who was never fully accepted by the Royal family.
The Lore of The Ring
In “” a documentary now streaming on Amazon, Diana’s Butler Paul Burrell told that Prince Charles allowed each of the boys to select a piece of jewelry to remember their mother by. William asked for his mother’s Cartier watch which had come from his grandfather John Spencer, the 8th Earl of Spencer. Harry asked for his mother’s sapphire engagement ring.
According to Insider,
“Burrell recalled that Harry had strong memories of the ring, and that he once said, “I remember when I held mummy’s hand when I was a small boy and that ring always hurt me because it was so big.”
Diana’s ring, from the Royal family‘s official jeweler Garrard, was prominently featured in untold thousands of articles and newscasts about the famous couple. The ring itself is built around a 12-carat Ceylon sapphire with 14 diamonds set in white gold.
She Always Knew
In the tell all book by Andrew Morton “Diana: Her True Story – In her own words” the Princess revealed on tape that she always knew: she would never be Queen.
“From day one, I always knew I would never be the next Queen. No one said that to me – I just knew it,” Diana said.
An Act of Quiet Revenge for Diana
We don’t know if Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex or Prince William, Duke of Cambridge felt their mother was murdered, if as Mohammed Al-Fayed claimed for years it was at the behest of the late Prince Phillip, the Royal family and British Intelligence: MI6. Even the Irish Times reported back in 98′ that Diana’s driver was reportedly an MI6 agent. As recently as 2017 USA Today was still printing stories about the various theories surrounding her death.
Either way it seems clear that the princes also knew, as their mother likely told them, even before the divorce: that she would never be Queen. Which gives a whole different context to what happened when Prince William prepared to pop the question to Kate Middleton.
Insider wrote,
“Burrell said that when Prince William set out to propose to Middleton in 2010, it was Harry’s idea to offer up his mother’s ring: “Harry said to him, ‘Wouldn’t it be fitting if she had mummy’s ring?'”
“Then one day that ring will be sat on the throne of England,”
A throne his mother was never going to be allowed to have. Burell called it a “Selfless” act of kindness between brothers. “His one thing he kept from his mother, he gave to his brother. That’s selfless, kind, and exactly who Diana was.” Selfless, yes. But also perhaps a private flip-off (reverse peace-sign… you know… because England..) to a Royal family that he has always been on the outs with.
Whether it was his Nazi dress-up for a costume party in 2005 or deciding with his wife, American Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex would turn and walk away from the royal family all but completely. One can hope that Harry will smile and think of his mother when Queen Catherine taps that ring on the arm of her throne.
When Prince William was a boy he allegedly told his mother up on losing her title of “Royal Highness” in the divorce “Don’t worry, Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when I am King.” That would make the Princes vengeance for their mother complete.